Born: 30 April 1662, United Kingdom
Died: 28 December 1694
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: NA
This biography, written by Holly Marsden, is shared with permission from Team Queens, an educational history blog run by a collective of historical scholars. All rights reserved; this material may not be republished without the author’s consent.
Queen Mary II of England was born in 1662. She was the eldest daughter of the future King James II and Anne Hyde. Her uncle King Charles II controlled her education and marriage prospects, as well as those of her sister, Anne. Their mother died when Mary was 5.
In 1677 Princess Mary married Dutch stadholder William of Orange. William was older, supposedly grumpy, and shorter than Mary. In opposition, Mary was tall, beautiful, and charismatic. She was unhappy leaving her home city of London behind to join her husband in Holland.
In the Dutch court, Mary wore the latest fashions and courtiers admired her style and wit. As consort, she had little formal duties, but found her love for collecting and displaying East Asian porcelain and Delftware. In 1688, worried parliamentarians wrote to the royal couple.
They asked for King James II to be deposed after his conversion to Catholicism. As cousins, William and Mary both had a claim to the throne and Mary didn’t want to rule alone. She was torn at the thought of deposing her father but saw it as her religious duty.
William successfully took an army to England. They were coronated together in 1689. The bloodless ‘Glorious Revolution’ initiated the multi-party parliament we have today. The Bill of Rights aimed to devolve power from the monarchy and increase parliamentary power.
William III spent most of his time on the continent leading warfare. The Regency Act dictated that when this happened, Mary could make autonomous decisions. She was especially passionate about caring for the Navy and dealing with Church affairs.
The tumultuous way Mary II gained the throne meant that the country was divided. She received many propaganda attacks from followers of her father, the Jacobites. She too used visual culture to proliferate her power, sometimes in retaliation.
Mary honed her tastes in collecting and displaying ceramics during her reign. Her legacy stands in Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace and Paleis Het Loo. She designed these with architects like Christopher Wren.
After only five years on the throne, Mary suddenly died from smallpox in December 1694. She left behind a devastated William, who reigned until his death in 1702. Mary’s funeral was the most expensive in British history, demonstrating the lasting effect she had on her people.
Recommended Reading
Joanna Marschner, “Queen Mary II as a Collector,” in Kensington Palace and the Porcelain of Queen Mary II, eds., Mark Hinton and Oliver Impey, 85-99 (London: Christie’s, 1998)
Joanna Marschner, “Mary II: Her Clothes and Textiles,” Costume 34 (2000): 44-50
Julie Farguson, Visualising Protestant Monarchy: Ceremony, Art and Politics after the Glorious Revolution (1689-1714) (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2021)
Lois G. Schwoerer, “Images of Queen Mary II, 1689-95,” Renaissance Quarterly 42.4 (1989): 717-748
Lois Schwoerer, The Revolution of 1688–89: Changing Perspectives (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Molly McLain, “Love, Friendship, and Power: Queen Mary II’s Letters to Frances Apsley,” Journal of British Studies 47.3 (2008): 505-527
Richard Price, “An Incomparable Lady: Queen Mary II’s Share in the Government of England, 1689–94,” Huntington Library Quarterly 75.3 (2012): 307-326.
From Woman: Her Position, Influence and Achievement Throughout the Civilized World. Designed and Arranged by William C. King. Published in 1900 by The King-Richardson Co. Copyright 1903 The King-Richardson Co.:
Mary II Queen of England, Wife and Co-Regent of William III 1662 – 1694 A.D.
Mary II was born at St. James Palace, Westminster, April 30, 1662. She was the daughter of James II by Anne Hyde, his first wife. She married, November 4, 1677, at the age of fifteen, William, Prince of Orange, and sailed for two weeks after to the Hague. Here she lived till February 12, 1689, when accepting a solemn invitation from the states of England and she followed her husband to London.
The throne was declared vacant by the flight of James II and William and Mary were crowned as next heirs April 11, 1689. Though Mary was declared joint possessor of the throne with her husband, yet the administration of the government was left entirely up to him. This arrangement cost Mary no sacrifice, but was in strict accord with her desire. “There is but one command which I wish for him to obey,” she said, “and that is, ‘Husbands, love your wives.’ For myself, I shall follow the injunction, ‘Wives, be obedient to your husbands in all things.’”
She kept the promise voluntarily made, and all her efforts were directed to promote her husband’s happiness, and make him beloved by the English people. He had great confidence in her abilities, and when, during his absence in Ireland and on the continent, she was left the regent of the kingdom, she managed parties at home with much prudence, and governed with a discretion not inferior to his own.
Queen Mary was strongly attached to the Protestant religion and the Church of England, and was evidently led to consider its preservation a paramount duty, even when she lived with her sister, afterward Queen Anne, often been alluded to as a blemish on her character. But political jealousies, and the foolish attachment to Anne to overbearing favorites, may sufficiently account for this rupture. Aside from this, Mary was, in truth, an amiable an excellent queen, and by her example made industry and domestic virtue fashionable. She died of smallpox, at Kensington, in the year 1694.